from Meadowlands Media Relations

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – July 22, 2006 — Holborn Hanover [$25.40, $8.80, $6.20] and Lis Mara [$5.00. $3.20, $2.60] each captured their $45,000 elimination for the $500,000 Breeders Crown Open Pace on Saturday night at the Meadowlands.

Holborn Hanover, driven by George Brennan and trained by Brett Robinson, held off Stonebridge Regal [$6.60, $4.20] and Maltese Artist [$8.80] by a half-length in a lifetime best 1:48.

Lisa Photo

Holborn Hanover, driven by George Brennan, paced a lifetime best 1:48.

“There was a lot of action going on but I know this horse pretty good and I know he’s been good the last four or five starts up in Mohawk,” Brennan said. “I had a few anxious moments but he is very capable and he didn’t prove me wrong. There was pressure from both sides and when you have a classy four-year-old like Stonebridge Regal and a great free-for-aller like Maltese Artist coming at you, sure you’re anxious but he went a great race.”

It was his fourth win in 16 starts this year for the five-year-old gelding, which increased his career earnings to $1,413,409.

Holborn Hanover is owned by John Fielding of Ontario, Canada and Canamerica Capital Corporation of Milton, Ontario.

In the fifth race elimination, Lis Mara wired the field by a length and a quarter in 1:48.1. The late charging Ponder [$3.60, $3.40] was second, while it was a length and a quarter back to P Forty Seven [$4.80] in third.

“Yes, we left hard and he got pretty stirred up,” winning driver Brian Sears said, “that is when I grabbed into him. He wasn’t coming back to me. I was able to ease him up a little but I just let him race on and he held on gamely. Down near the wire I sawed the bit in his mouth and he was a little tired, but he held on pretty gamely. He has improved with every start. It was a hard decision to pick Boulder Creek [with whom Sears won the 2005 Crown] or Lis Mara. It was a tough decision, but the kind you have to make in this business. Next week should be a heck of a race, a real good horse race.”

Trained by Ervin Miller, Lis Mara scored his third straight victory in her eleventh start of the year and increased his lifetime earnings to $718,798 for owners MJG Racing Stable of Annandale, New Jersey and Louis Willinger of Louisville, Kentucky.

Rounding out the field for next week’s $500,000 final is Dr No, He Wants It All, Leading X Ample and Boulder Creek.

In other Breeders Crown action, Corelone Kosmos [$8.00, $5.80, $5.20] benefited from a second over trip behind Smooth Muscles [$22.80, $11.60] and tipped off live cover to win the second race prep for open trotters by two lengths in 1:51.3, setting a new world and track record for four-year-old trotting geldings.

Smooth Muscles held on for second and it was two and a quarter lengths back to last year’s Hambletonian winner, Vivid Photo [$4.60], in third.

In the sixth race open pace for Breeders Crown mares, Easton Alliance N [$8.00, $4.20, $2.60], who supplemented into the Breeders Crown, tipped off cover in the stretch and paced home for a length and a quarter victory in 1:50.4.

Burning Point [$3.20, $2.20] finished second and it was a length and a half back to Glowing Report [$2.40] in third.